


Falling for You

by avocadhoe



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Baker!Scott
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-20 05:45:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15527412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avocadhoe/pseuds/avocadhoe
Summary: "Scott let out a soft chuckle as he gently pressed the pastry into a tin, who knew that out of all the techniques he’d spent years mastering and all the tips and tricks he’d picked up along the way a simple chocolate cake would be his most famous dessert."AU





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I guess this means I'm too deep in this VM hole to try and find a way out now :)

He didn’t pay much attention to the gentle ring of the bell on the door. The post-lunch rush was long gone and while Victoria was young she was more than capable of serving a customer or two without him.

 

He gently shut the oven door and set the timer before dusting the worktop with flour and fetching a fresh batch of pastry out of the fridge.

 

“-just a minute please miss”.  Victoria appeared in the archway between the kitchen and the café, holding onto the frame for support as she leant away from it. “Scott, there’s a lady out here after some of the chocolate cake, have we got anymore back here?”

 

“I’ve got one cooling over there but it’s going to be at least another 25minutes before I get around to icing it”, he replied nodding his head to the left while he rolled the pastry out.  “Other than that, it’s only what we’ve got out front.”

 

Vitoria nodded and disappeared around the corner again.

 

“…no that’s okay, I’ll wait. That cake has got one hell of a reputation and I haven’t managed to get myself a piece yet. I’ll have a coffee in the meantime though. Thanks”

 

Scott let out a soft chuckle as he gently pressed the pastry into a tin, who knew that out of all the techniques he’d spent years mastering and all the tips and tricks he’d picked up along the way a simple chocolate cake would be his most famous dessert.

 

~

 

45 minutes later he set down the piping bag and wiped the edge of the cake stand clean. Between juggling the pastries going in and out of the oven and making sure he had everything he needed prepped for the next dessert he has _almost_ forgotten that he had waiting customers – if she was even still here that is. Not many people he knew had time to wait around for nearly an hour on a Wednesday afternoon, life was far too busy for that. Nevertheless, he walked through the archway with a smile painted on his face and swapped out the empty cake stand for the fresh one in the display cabinet.

 

He stood for a minute watching as Victoria cut the first slice, placing it on a plate with a napkin and carried it over to a table tucked out of the way almost completely out of sight. The current occupant of the table made him double-take. She was sat tapping away at the laptop in front of her, dark hair piled on top of her head, some of the soft waves having fallen out of her hair tie now framing her face.

 

Scott pulled his gaze away as she looked up smiling her thanks at Victoria, shaking his head gently he turned back towards the kitchen. When he reappeared again a short while later to restock the shelf of cookies she was gone, so was everyone. It was the middle of the afternoon, this was usually the longest quiet spell they had before a new wave of people came flooding in through the door as they finished their working day. He watched Victoria wipe down the tables for a second before pulling off the apron that was tied round his hips and walking round to the main part of the café.

 

“Tori, take a break. I’ve got this”

 

“You sure?”

 

“Yes. Go, you’ve got 30 minutes and then I’ll need you back”

 

Victoria gave one sharp nod in his direction and hurried out the front door. Scott knew she wouldn’t take the full 30 minutes, if he was lucky she might just push herself to take 10 but at least she was taking something.

 

Scott finished wiping down the tables and tucking the chairs neatly under them again. He didn’t know how he got so lucky to find Victoria – fresh out of school and desperate for responsibility and some extra cash each month. She had worked for Scott for nearly two years now and not once had he ever heard her complain about how busy they got during rush while he was in the kitchen trying desperately to keep up with demand while she was manning the till on her own.

 

He couldn’t even recall a time when she had arrived late or shown up in anything less than appropriate work attire. She always had the time to stay late and help him shut down despite his insistence that he could manage to put a few chairs away on his own and that she should really start to head home before it got too late.

 

At this point she was more than just his employee, she was his friend. One of his best friends.

 

She was the only one that got away with teasing him endlessly when he tried to grow out his facial hair and in return, he was the only one that was ever allowed to so much as whisper a word of the few months that she decided green and blue streaks through her blonde hair was the greatest decision she had ever made.

 

They had their history, their memories and a bond that very few could ever begin to understand. His little Victoria.

 

~

 

 

5am rolled around and Scott blindly reached for his alarm rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He dragged himself out of bed like he did every morning and made his way into the bathroom. Reaching into the shower - turning it on with one hand and scrolling through the notifications on his phone with the other, he had roughly two and a half minutes to catch up with what was going on in the world before the water was the right temperature.

 

He dressed in a plain t-shirt and smart jeans and running his hands through his hair in a futile effort to tame it. _He really must get it cut soon._ Gently shutting the door to his room, he walked across the landing into the kitchen, picking up a cereal bar and a bottle of water. He spun round on the spot looking for his keys that he had thrown down in the darkness the night before. He grabbed them from beside the fridge and span the key ring round his index finger as he walked out the door.

 

Slightly more awake now he bounced down his front steps mindful of the loose cobble stone that he still hadn’t found time to get fixed. The café was only a 10 minute walk from his house and he appreciated the quiet, how still the world was when everyone was sleeping.

 

Reaching the side of the café he unlocked the back door and disabled the alarm system. He had just over three hours to take out the dough he had prepped the night before and start baking ready for when the doors opened at 8am.

 

The next time he took a second to catch his breath it was 7:15. His bread had just finished baking and was waiting to be turned out and his pastries were almost all sitting on their slates ready to be moved out to the front.  He made his way through the kitchen archway ready to lift down all the chairs and tuck them neatly under the tables before unlocking the front door ready for Victoria. 

 

Despite his daily insistence that there was no need for her to arrive any earlier than 8 when they opened to the public she still pitched up at 7:30 each morning and sat eating her breakfast while he busied himself arranging the pastries displayed next to the till.

 

This was their routine, every day. The beginning of the week was filled with casual chatter about the weekend just gone and the end of the week filled with comfortable silence and subtle nods to each other as they passed.

 

~

 

Scott normally looked forward to Sunday, the day he had all to himself to catch up on household chores and wander around the town for a bit. Today however he was restless, he felt cooped up inside but didn’t really want to go out and mingle either. He had finished all the jobs he had lined up to do and was just absentmindedly flicking through the tv channels hoping something would grab his attention. After 20 minutes of rolling his eyes at daytime telly he stood up, searching through his draws for a clean t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. _Maybe a run will shake him out of this funk he’s in._

 

He starts jogging towards the park, a few laps round that should give him enough time to find something to focus on for the rest of the day. 

5 minutes later he begins to see the line of trees creating a shaded boarder around the grass of the park. Picking up pace to a slow run he navigates the gate and takes off round the perimeter. There’s a few other people here – a few dog walkers enjoying the sunshine, a group of children running about and a couple of other runners – one in particular catching his eye.

 

Her long brown hair tied up in a neat bun on the top of her head, not a strand out of place. Dressed in ¾ length leggings and an Adidas sports bra she was setting quite a pace around the park. She looked familiar, almost comforting but Scott just couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

 

He followed her from a distance for a couple more laps before she veered off to a bench and began stretching. Scott was so caught up in his head trying to figure out where he knew her from he completely missed her leaving the path and the next time he looked round for her she was gone. Scott noticed how tired he was from trying to keep up the distance between them, _damn she’s quick,_ and set off on a brisk walk home.


	2. Oh Honey, Honey

It had been three months.

 

Three months of her – the girl from the park. It hadn’t taken him long to make the connection, she often came in wearing some kind of running gear and in the first few weeks Victoria had taken it upon herself to strike up a friendly conversation with her new favourite customer. This then led to Victoria retelling small anecdotes while they set up shop in the morning. A couple of these were tales of what this mysterious brunette had seen on her morning run through the park, the very same park that Scott himself liked to run through on a Sunday.

 

She still came in every Wednesday, ordered a drink and then sat down at her table tapping away at her laptop while she waited for Victoria to bring over whatever sweet treat she had ordered that day. In the early weeks Victoria received a smile of thanks, now however they exchanged pleasantries and would often spend a few minutes catching up on the previous week.

 

Scott was lenient, Victoria worked extremely hard and if these quick chats provided him with more stories of the brunette Tori had befriended he was in full support.

 

Slowly he became completely fascinated by the brunette and often caught himself watching her for a fraction too long, smiling to himself as she threw her head back in laughter or tucked a stray hair behind her ear. Noticing how her brow furrowed when she was concentrating or when she absentmindedly fiddled with her jewellery while she re-read what she had written. He also learnt that on the days where she wore her hair down she would last about an hour before twisting it up into a bun and securing it in place with a pen or pencil and once even a rogue chopstick she had fished out of her bag.

 

He was caught in another of those moments when she glanced up, piercing green eyes stared back at him and he felt like all the air had been knocked out of his chest. He watched as she looked him up and down, lingering slightly on the flour covered apron tied round his hips.

 

She shut her laptop and placed it carefully inside the bag resting against the leg of her chair. swinging the bag over her shoulders she stood up. _Shit. Is she coming over here. Shit._ He smiles at her as she rests her hip against the counter.

 

“You’re the one in charge of the baked goods I presume,” she says, gently nodding her head towards his apron.

 

Everything about her from her head to her toes was soft and delicate. Scott felt her voice wash over him, her words wrapping around him like a blanket keeping him safe and warm.

 

“That would be me, yes.” Scott replies, wondering where this conversation was going. Usually when people speak to him directly it’s to complain, everything else he hears second-hand from Victoria and yet something was telling him that that particular tradition was about to change, this girl didn’t give the impression that she would waste 3 months coming here just to complain.

 

“-and you bake it all here? Everyday?”

 

Scott let out a huff of air through his nose, the corner of his mouth curling slightly at her disbelief, “I can assure you miss, everything in here is baked fresh right through there.” He gestured behind him to the archway that led to the kitchen.

 

“Tessa…my name’s Tessa.” She replied. He knew her name already, Tori had mentioned it a couple of times when she was recounting a particularly funny tale but his professionalism kept him from giving away anything that might suggest anything other than this being completely new information to him.

 

“That’s impressive, it must be a lot of work to get all this done each day,” she continued

 

“It can be, yes but it’s what I love to do and I’m so grateful to have Victoria out here helping me out.”

 

Tessa smiled at him, “she’s a lovely girl, excellent people skills. I can’t imagine you always get the easiest customers in here, but she just radiates confidence and calm. I’ve grown rather fond of her.”

 

“She is definitely something special,” he agrees. “I’m really sorry Miss but I must get back in that kitchen now, those cakes won’t bake themselves.”

 

“Of course, I’m so sorry, of course you’re busy.”

 

“Tessa!” he called out over her rambling, “it’s not a problem, see you next week?”

 

“It’s a date!”

 

 

 

~

 

 

_It’s a date._

 

She couldn’t be serious, it was just a joke. A small quip. They’d only spoken once and it was a brief conversation, but still, there was just something about the way he held his breath for a second as he registered what she said that made Scott think maybe he wished that she was serious.

 

As soon as he had stepped through his front door Scott had been stuck in this loop. His mind flickering between being convinced she wasn’t serious, wishing she was serious and believing she was 100% serious. This led him to where he was now, pacing his bedroom floor like a cat on steroids until his legs were screaming for him to sit down. He was being silly. Stressing himself out over a stranger - but she wasn’t just a stranger really.

 

He ran his fingers through his hair and flopped down onto the bed, feet hanging off the end as he replayed every single part of the encounter; from the second she walked into the café that afternoon to the moment she left. He analysed every word of their conversation trying to find something that would give him a solid answer either way.

 

It must have been a joke. The only girls he had ever known that looked for a date after one conversation were the ones that only wanted one thing and Tessa didn’t strike him as one of those girls.

 

He rolled over onto his side – not bothering to undress – and willed himself to fall asleep. _There’s no use worrying about it now you idiot, might as well get some sleep while you can._ He led there staring at the wall for a while before drifting off to thoughts of one rather beautiful brunette that slowly seemed to be seeping into every aspect of his life.

 

 

~

 

Scott was no better off the next day, he dragged himself into work 10 minutes late and spent the morning doing everything he could to catch up. By the time lunch had come around he had already scrapped multiple batches of overwhipped cream, a cake that had crumbled in front of him and two pie crusts that had cracked while they were baking.

 

He sighed deeply and pulled off his apron with such a force he nearly knocked his fist into Victoria who had made an appearance in the archway.

 

“Scott…are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“Are you sure? You seem kinda tense”

 

“Victoria. I said I’m fine. I just have a headache and you aren’t exactly helping by standing there giving the 3rd degree”

 

_Nice job Moir, snap at her some more that will really help the situation. And keep lying to her while you’re at it, she’ll definitely appreciate that when she finds out._

_It’s not a complete lie, I have got a headache._

_You’ve only got a headache because you’ve stressed yourself out. You know you can’t catch up from the morning now and you only had such a bad morning because you’ve been distracted._

 

He’s pulled from his internal debate when he feels a small hand resting on his wrist, he looks down at her and guilt washes over him in waves when he notices the apprehension in her eyes.

 

“I’m sorry Tori, I think I’m just tired today. Get your things and go home, I’m going to close early.”

 

“Are you sure, I can always stay here and sell the stuff that’s already baked while you go home. I’ll even lock up and drop the keys off on my way home if you don’t feel like coming out again.”

 

“You deserve the afternoon off too, and at this point in the day we aren’t going to lose much profit by closing.”

 

Victoria squeezed his arm gently and collected her things from behind the counter. “Rest Scott, you deserve it as much as I do.”

 

Scott watched as she pulled the front door closed behind her. He hated lying to her but he could see no other explanation to why he was so distracted that would even begin to make sense to her. Despite wanting to close early Scott knew he wasn’t ready to head home yet. He set off walking in the opposite direction hoping a wander around the town would give him some time to think.

 

He ended up at the park, sat at one of the benches watching a few kids throwing a ball around. The usual dog walkers were there, and he smiled and nodded at each one as they passed him.

 

“You know, most normal people don’t spend their free time watching people this closely, if you’re not careful everyone will start avoiding you and trust me when I say that’s not something a business owner wants.”

 

It took Scott a moment to register that anyone was next to him, and it took even longer for him to identify the voice that was talking to him. He snapped his head round and then brought a hand to his neck to massage away the sharp pain running up and down it.

 

“Tessa?”

 

“The very same. Fancy catching you here I thought you would have been working”

 

He turned his head away and muttered, “not feeling 100%.” _There you go again, of all the people to lie to she should probably be the last on your list._ He heard the sound of her voice in the background of his thoughts and realised that he hadn’t listened to a word she had just said.

 

“I’m really sorry I didn’t catch that. Tell me again”

 

“I was just saying that I’ve got a great home remedy that only uses lemon and honey, but you really don’t look with it at all...” She glanced sideways at him, looking like she was debating if she should continue on with her sentence or not. Pulling out her phone and holding it out to him she said, “here. Put your number in my phone and I’ll text you the finer details, you can pay attention to them when you’re ready.”

 

Scott studied her for a second before reaching out and taking her phone, his fingers brushing the back of her hand ever so slightly. He tapped in his contact details before handing it back to her. Glancing down a small smile graced her lips, eyes shining as she looked back at him.

 

“Feel better soon, Scott Moir”

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism is always welcome but please be kind


End file.
